MM March Madness – March 30 – Piper Trace

Twinsie Talk is proud to present the 3rd Annual MM March Madness – a month to focus on the M/M, F/F, M/M/F, M/F/M authors. We love these books and want to share it with the rest of the world. Each day we will post an interview. We will also include any reviews that we have done on these books as well as links to the books.

Our hope is that you will love this genre as much as we do! <3

Today is devoted to Piper Trace

Piper Trace likes to write love stories with just the right amount of filth. Her life as a lawyer and a cog in a large corporate wheel was killing her soul. She escaped by telling her coworkers she was busy during lunch, and sat in her car with a notebook to write sizzling tales of romance and heartbreak. She guarded that notebook as if it was her greatest treasure, because it was. Now she’s quit her corporate job to write romance full-time. When not writing, Piper repurposes old furniture, sews poorly and builds things fairly well. Her DIY work can be found at www.dropdeadthrifty.com, which she runs for fun with her DIY partner, New York Times bestselling author Sidney Bristol. Piper uses her writing money to buy new tools. She lives in Ohio with her military hero husband, her two young kids, a big fluffy dog, and a canary. Her tee-shirt reads, “Will write for power tools”.

Tell us about something about you (not included in your normal author bio) that maybe not everyone knows about you.

Let’s see…I’ll tell you a few things. 1) I can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in Latin. 2) I think I missed my calling as a police detective. 3) My favorite band in high school was The Alarm.

There’s been a trend in writing a series. How do you feel about series? Do you write them? Do you think they are easier or harder?

Oh! I have two series in the works right now! I prefer series because if you like the world, then you get another book (and another and another) in the same world, with the same author’s voice. The world is familiar and comfortable, with each book still being fresh. It’s like settling in with an old friend who’s telling you a new story. The only thing about them that’s harder to write, to me, is that you have to keep track of a lot of information (because all the books are related), so what hair color did that lady have? And who’s related to whom? Stuff like that. Also, you’d better like that world if you’re going to be writing in it for a while. The series I’m working on right now is going to be extensive. I plan to write in that world for years, so I hope readers like it!

Where do you do most of your writing?

Ha! This is a funny question for me because I used to write in my car when I was still working full-time. It took me five years to write Come When Called, my MMF menage novel starring Ford, Charley and Evie. I joke that for five years I wrote about Ford in a Chevy. Now I mainly write on the couch or in a chair with my laptop on my lap. Last year I did this really awesome DIY refinishing of an old desk I bought off of Craigslist to be my “work space”, but I’ve yet to use it as such… Next year, when my youngest is in school, I’ll use it then. (I tell myself. But I lie to myself a lot.) Haha

What are you currently reading? Any suggestions for your favorite books (beside your own, of course)?

Do you feel that this genre is growing? And what do you contribute to that growth or decline?

I definitely feel like the genre is growing, and that’s a wonderful thing! I always encourage people to try it out, even if they don’t think it’s something they’d be into. If people are skeptical as to whether or not they’d like to read M/M romance, I tell them to read Interview with a Vampire by Ann Rice, which I consider the gateway drug to M/M. 🙂

What is the most surprising thing you have learned about writing?

HOW INCREDIBLY HARD IT IS!!! I think, intrinsically, people believe they can tell a story, so how hard can it be to write it? I used to think this too…until I tried to really sit down and write a book. Just the banal stuff like how to get two characters to walk into another room (without sounding like you’re the storyteller butting into the story to say “then they walked into the other room”), or how to indicate that two weeks have gone by. Or even worse, how to write a menage or a same-sex love scene! You can’t just say, “He touched his thigh.” Who touched who’s thigh? But don’t used names too much or it sounds strange. Things like that stump you very quickly and you realize, “Oh crap. This is freaking hard!” And that’s not even touching on how to make your story interesting, compelling, emotional, sexy, memorable, and all the other things to which a writer aspires.

What are you working on now?

I am currently working on a M/F series, but I don’t have anything to share! I’m a slow writer. 🙂 But please, check out Come When Called and tell your friends!

What is your favorite thing to do on a Saturday night?

Curl up on the couch with my husband and watch a movie!

Tell us about the highest HIGH and lowest LOW in your career so far. How has it changed you?

Oooh, you have tough questions! Gosh, I don’t know if I want to talk about the lowest low. Ugh. Here goes… Very early on in my career, when I had just started to write, I had a terrible situation where I jumped the gun on a possible agent just because she was an AGENT and I maybe had the opportunity to land her (lots of excited exclamation points here!!) I had an old acquaintance who was a writer and I reached out to her for her opinion on what she thought of my stuff. She read it and recommended me to an agent in the same agency as her own agent! THEN I did the research. Not only did I realize this wasn’t the agent for me, but I also realized that I wasn’t even close to needing an agent, considering I didn’t even have a book written yet! I backed out of the submission as diplomatically as I could, but…it didn’t go over well with my old acquaintance. She…uh…revoked her recommendation in a vehement way to the agency and sent some rather strong messages to me as well, blocked me on social media, etc. I apologized and groveled, but it didn’t help. I had burned that bridge to ashes. 🙁 Not only did I feel absolutely AWFUL about it (the old acquaintance was just trying to help me, after all, and then it all went to hell), but I went from the high of “oh my god, I might actually make it as a professional writer!!” to the depths of “maybe I just ruined my career before I even started” in about twenty-four hours. I honestly think I cried for about three days straight. I just could not stop crying about the situation. Then I don’t think I wrote a word for almost six months. It was awful, but I still stand by my decision (if not the choices that led me to it). I was stupid to even approach someone for help without first doing my homework, but the reality is that I couldn’t bind myself contractually to a party just because I felt embarrassed or socially obligated to at that point. What I learned from that was LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP in publishing! Do your homework. Writers in the romance world are so very nice, inclusive and helpful, so make sure you can actually USE the help you ask for, before you get it! Now I self-publish, and I’m leery of publishers and agents, frankly, and I think that mess early-on helped steer me in this direction. PS: The agent involved was extremely nice and professional about it, so I was grateful for that. Okay, shrug those yucky feelings off—now the high! I guess the highlight of my career so far was being a finalist in Mary Menages Best Menage Authors 2016 for Come When Called! This just happened, and I didn’t win, but just being nominated, and being a finalist(!) was completely thrilling for me! Otherwise, honestly, every nice review I get is a high. Every message from a reader saying she stayed up all night reading my book. Every reader who enjoys Come When Called. Even a three star review where the reviewer says she was “entertained throughout” is a high for me. The idea that someone might read my words and enjoy my story never ceases to be a high. Those highs make it all worth it, and put a huge smile on my face, so I’ll keep writing, and hopefully, you’ll keep reading!

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